How to answer the theocrats.

A Christian perspective : God the creator provided humankind (made in God's image) with the capacity for self-governance, conscience, good will. Human will restored from corruption by the intervention of the Word of God (considered as beginning with call to Abraham). Origin of the "law & grace" distinction : when human good will is restored, need for patriarchal, authoritarian, punitive law fades away. Thus Isaiah says "I will write my laws on their own hearts", and the Psalmist describes how as he meditates on the Law in his mind it is sweeter than honey. Democracy has its roots in faith in human nature, & in governance (& self-governance) as a benign, inherent aspect of God-given creation.

Faith in human nature a reflection of understanding of divine nature (mercy, kindness, forgiveness, understanding, love).

Qutb's version of Islam (at least from the magazine summary : I want to look at his writings) seems to imagine a conqueror-God who installs his theocracy on earth. The attributes of this God are said to be compassionate & all-merciful, but the actions seem to reflect authoritarian control, a mistrust or belittling of his creatures, requiring strict & brutal punishments, and an all-seeing totalitarian eye, on the lookout for any non-conformity in thought or deed. "Freedom" in this context is freedom only to obey. But the notion of separation of church & state is predicated on the sense that, while the state & civil authorities may write laws for the protection of civil order, God's greatest spiritual gift is actually liberty of conscience - the capacity of the soul to think, judge, and act independently, as it sees fit. (Reason. Another name for the Holy Spirit is : the Truth.)

Unable to focus on poetry.

Forsythia budding against wall on Prospect St. outside Rochambeau House.

Fascinating NY Times mag article on Sayyid Qutb, Islamic thinker/revolutionary, influence on Al Qaeda et al. According to Qutb one of the roots of Western corruption is separation of religion & state. I live in Providence, home of "separation of church & state" (Roger Williams). Some of my Gould ancestors came here in 1630s, with Anne Hutchinson, driven out by Boston theocracy. Others were Quakers. Gr-gr-etc-grandpa Zaccheus Gould, expelled from his Massachusetts church for "harboring Indians & Quakers" (one was his nephew). When he was finally re-admitted, he sat in his pew with his back to the pulpit.